THE BRAIN CHEAT CALLED PLACEBO EFFECT

 

         Growing up, i had this neighbor, an old guy, who lived alone, and was kinda strange. Every night,just around midnight, he used to bang on all of his neighbor's doors, demanding us to “turn off our antennas ”, because it was giving him a headache. He shouted and couldn't be reasoned with.

        We first tried to explain to him that the antennas had nothing to do with his headaches. Then we tried to ignore him. But nothing we tried worked.

         One day, someone came up with the idea to give him a fake remote control and When the old guy asked what it was, we said: “Just press the red button towards any antenna you want turned off.”

He pressed it. His eyes widened as he said “It works. It really works! Thank you.”

       We never  had a problem with that old guy again. Sometimes we see him shuffle from his room, press the button, then shuffle back inside.

          Now,the remote control wasn't controlling anything and I can't even remember if it ever had batteries but my neighbor stopped having his headaches because he believed the remote was solving his antenna problem and by extension his ache problem. This sham with results is what is called the PLACEBO EFFECT

       The placebo effect is a beneficial effect produced by treatment, which cannot be attributed to the properties of the placebo itself, and must therefore be due to the persons belief in that treatment.  

        An example of the placebo effect was in the horror movie 'IT' where one of the characters constantly had asthma and anxiety attacks that could only be subsided with his drugs but he later found out those drugs were not actually helping him but rather it was his belief in them that did the trick. Below is that scene.

      There are so many applications of the placebo effect in our life and we'll run through the most common ones 

        1. Coffee to keep you awake ; This is the most common myth created by the placebo effect and likely propagated by coffee makers. Admitted that caffeine has positive stimuli on your blood pressure but most of the rush and energy actually comes from the placebo effect. Your mind tricks your body into feeling fresh because you've fed your mind with the certainty that liquid you've just consumed does wonders.

        2. Progress Bars ;  As most programmers would agree the progress bars are just a cosmetic touch to allay the viewer’s frustration. Have you noticed how it feels like things load quicker if you're doing something e.g tapping your keyboard/screen? Well, the placebo effect tricked your brain into believing that it was those your efforts that made a difference. It’s placebo at its best ! You wait for the bar to roll/ load while the page actually takes its own sweet time.

         3. Market price ; This is possibly the worst use of placebo effect. One that actually costs you money. More than fifty percent of those boutique items are not actually very different from the cheaper ones you find at unbranded stores. They are beautifully tagged and priced to make you feel so.

Marketeers use placebo effect in pricing goods very often. The consumer belief is that a gadget or a shirt that seems expensive must be definitely better than its cheaper counterpart